Fuel package



G. E. WEIR A FUEL PACKAGE May 15, 1962 Filed Feb. 14, 1958 nited States Patent hice Edl Patented May l5, i952?.

Filed Feb.. 14, 1953, Ser. Noa 715,274 2 Ciairns. (Cl. 44H46) This invention relates to a container for products, and to a container and product combination, wherein the container not only is arranged to perform the normal function of containing a product, but also has incorporated in its basic structure a chemical 01- reactant agent capable, while so incorporated, of performing certain functions with respect to the conditions within the container, or with respect to the contained product, under certain predetermined conditions of use.

More specifically, the present invention relates to a container which has a multi-ply structural wall between the pliesof which is incorporated a reactant agent which affects conditions within the container so that they are different from the conditions that would have obtained therein in the absence of the agent.

The reactant agent vmay be one which reacts due to conditions or agencies inside or outside of the container, or both, and which, by its reaction, causes conditions within the container and the condition of the product to be different from what they wouldhave been in the absence of the reaction.

The agent may become reaetant due to some condition created' in the container by the product itself, or to some agency on the product, or to sorne substance added in the container during packaging of the product. For example, the agent may be reactive with natural moisture in, or added moisture on, a product, or to moisture or gases outside or inside of the container.

Again, the agent may be one which has components which interact or gradually break down or change by chemical reaction under predetermined cOnditions, such as storage, shipping, or, burning of the container and its contents as a unit, so as to change the condition of, or within, the container, or of the product, or so as to maintain certain conditions over a period'of time longer than would have been the case in the absence of the agent,

thus, in either event, changing conditions from what they would have been had the agent not been included.

Various objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description wherein reference is 4made to the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying the principles of the present invention, part thereof being shown in section for clearness in illustration;

FiG. 2 is a horizontal sectional View taken on the line 2 2 in FIG. l;

FIG, 3 is a perspective View of a modified form of the invention, part thereof being shown in section for clear- V,

ness in illustration;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG..5 is a perspective View showing another modification of the invention, part thereof being shown in section for clearness in illustration, and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on 'the line 6 6 in FIG. 5.

taken on line Referring rst to FIG. l, the container, indicated gen? in FIG. 3.

it is to be noted that the wall 2 is ya structural wail of the container without which the container would not exist and it forms, in substance, a permanent characterizing part of the container as distinguished from a mere supplemental o-r additional wall unnecessary to the basic container structure and function.

Between the plies 3 and d of the wall 2, a chemical or reactant agent 5 is incorporate-d, this agent being one which has an effect on the conditions or product 6 Within the container which causes those conditions to be different frorn what they would have been or become in the absence of the agent.

The container is manufactured in accordance with the conventional principles and procedures, the one shown being cylindrical with a spirally wound, two-ply wall. The chemical or reactant agent 5 is interposed between the plies 3 and 4 of the wall 2 during the manufacture ofthe container.

If the reactant `and the glue or binder used for bonding the plies together are not mutually repellent or counteractant, then the agent may be applied during production by spraying or dusting it onto the freshly glued surface, or by merely spreading in place before the plies are brought together for sealing and binding into a unitary sheet or wall structure.

lf, on the other hand, the agent is not compatible with the glue or with the moisture therein, the agent may be applied in a separate ply so arranged that it will prevent the agent frorncorning in contact with the glue and the moisture. ln such instance, one of the plies may be configured so as to form with another ply a plurality of isolated pockets. Such a form of container is illustrate The container there illustrated is formed of an outer ply 7, an intermediate ply S, and an inner ply 9. The plies '7 and 9 are the conventional paper plies such as used for the spirally-wound tubular containers, but the ply 8 is preferably corrugated paper. in this structure, the chemical agent or reactant agent, indicated at it), may be disposed in the-corrugations which, since the crests of the corrugations are bonded to the other plies, provides a plurality of pockets which `are isolated from each other.

' The agent may be put in place on the corrugated paper and caused to adhere or remain there by any suitable means prior to the incorporation of the corrugated paper as a ply in the wall, or it may be added, after the container is substantially completed, by introducing it into the corrugations from the ends and then sealing the corrugations if so required to assure the retention of the agent.

Further, in this form 0f the invention, if so desired, the components of the reactant agent may be separated from each other and be capable of reacting if brought into sufficiently Vintimate contact with each other. such case, one component of the agent may be placed within some of the pockets of the resultant ply and the other component agent may be placed in other of the pockets, so that the two components are isolated from each other and so remain until, in some predetermined use of the container, they are caused to be in reactive relation-for example, when burning a container when it contains a combustible fireplace material i?, and the agent includes one igniting component and iiame coloring component; or when a product is placed in the container which carries with it moisture or chemical, or the like, which itself can penetrate the pocket walls, or cause moisture bearing the different agents to penetrate the walls and thus come into contact or become reactive with respect to each other.

Referring next to FIGS. 5 and 6, a container 13 is InV shown in the form of a bag which also has its walls formed of multi-ply paper in which the plies are bonded together to provide the necessary strength. As there shown, the bag 13 has an outer ply 14 and an inner ply 15 with a reactant or chemical agent 16 incorporated between the plies which are bonded together. It contains a product 17.

As mentioned, the particular agent is incorporated preferably at the time of manufacture, a chemical being selected which will function in accordance with the intended ultimate use to which the container is to be put.

The particular agent, or agents, to be used depends upon the product to be contained in the container, the eiect desired thereon, the time and conditions of storage, and the presence or absence of other materials on the product or in the container, and the like.

For example, let it be assumed that, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the container is to contain a product which is to be protected from the effects of moisture. Then the agent 5 between the plies can be one which can absorb any moisture which might have entered the container during the packaging of the product, thus keeping the interior of the container in a dry condition in which it would not have remained had the agent not been used. If desired, the outer ply may be moisture proofed and the inner ply left untreated so as to be capable of absorbing moisture readily.

Again, the cap of the container, necessarily not being sealed as tightly as desired, may permit the entrance of moist air in which case the moisture again would be absorbed in the interior ply of the container and then reabsorbed therefrom by the agent 5 incorporated between the plies.

It may be that there are delicate instruments which are to be placed in the container and then stored on the shelf until sold and it is desirable to prevent any oxygen from reaching the product. In such a case, the chemical agent would be one which, under the normal storage conditions, would gradually give off a non-oxidizing vapor which would pass through the interior Wall of the container and permeate the interior of the container and thus build up a slight excess pressure in the container so as to prevent the entrance of outside air. It may be one which, due to a high ainity for oxygen, removes any free oxygen by combining with it.

Generally, the agent should be one which does not react with the material of the container under the normal conditions of storage of the container with the product therein.

On the other hand, the agent may be one which is reactive with respect to the container as Well as to the product therein under certain conditions. For example, referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, let it be assumed that the bag is to contain a charge of charcoal 12 for the ordinary charcoal grill and it is desired to place the entire container, with the charcoal therein, in the re pot of the grill and to assure effective ignition of the charcoal which is relatively hard to ignite. In such an instance, an igniting agent or agents which become active with respect to both the container and the charcoal may be contained in the pockets formed by the layer or ply 8. An example of such an agent is myristic alcohol (CMHZQOH) which is generally solid but melts at 38 C. Thus, the charge of charcoal and the container can be placed without change in the iire pot, and a match applied to the container, or the container may be torn at the ends so as to expose the alcohol and a match applied. The container and alcohol start to burn and, due to the activity of the agent with respect to both the container and the charcoal, both the container and charcoal are readily ignited. In such type of installation, therefore, the agent is active both with respect to the container itself and the contents.

If it is desired to assure a certain amount of moisture on the product within the container over a substantial period of shelf life, then the chemical agent may be sodium sulphate decahydrate (Na2SO4l0H2O), as it will break down gradually and provide a certain amount of moisture which will moisten the inner ply and penetrate it and eventually reach the interior of the container.

If the product be one in which dryness is desired, then an anhydrous (Na2SO4) or calcium chloride (CaCl2) could be used as an agent between the plies, any moisture from the product or otherwise in the container being absorbed by the inner ply, penetrating therethrough, and being, in turn, absorbed bythe reactive agent.

Again, there are agents which can give off, or can react with moisture on the product to create gases and vapors in the interior of the container, such as gas for accelerating or retarding ripening of fruit, or for coloring or changing in some respect the contents or conditions on the interior of the package from what it would have been in the absence of the agent.

For ripening fruit, while in a package, some type of ethylene may be incorporated between the plies, though it is somewhat diicult to generate the necessary gases from a solid source of it.

There are many agents which can be used in this manner and the specic agent is not so important as the manner in which it is incorporated in the plies of the multiply structural wall of the package so that, when the package is in the use for its intended purpose, the agent causes the condition within the package, or of the product therein, to be different that it would have been under the same conditions of use had the agent not been present.

The agent may be one which becomes effective immediately upon the initial packaging of the product, or, as in the case of the charcoal and igniting agent, when the package and contents are subsequently used for their ultimate purpose.

It may be active to produce the result either by reaction with something within or extraneous of the container, or with the product itself, or by interaction of its own constituents.

Thus the package may be functional prior to the use of the product therein or during the use of the product therein.

In some instances, it may be desirable to protect the contents of the package from excessive outside temperature during shipment, in which case substantial amounts of Dry Ice may be incorporated between the plies, for example, in the pockets or troughs of the corrugated paper ply 8 in FIGS. 3 and 4, the Dry Ice being put in those troughs or pockets which open inwardly toward the inner ply or interior of the package. In such a case, the outer troughs tend to insulate the package thermally while the inner troughs containing the Dry Ice chill the inner ply so that the temperature within the package is reduced.

Furthermore, material such as Dry Ice may be used as the chemical or reactant agent in those instances wherein it is desired to maintain a non-oxidizing atmosphere within the package over a substantial period of shipping time.

Depending on the purpose, either or both plies may be made somewhat porous or absorbent, or perforated, or moisture proof, depending on the use intended, but in each instance each ply is a permanent part of the structural enclosing wall of the container without which the container, as such, would not exist.

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel and igniting container combination including, a container having a unitary peripheral wall including at least an inner ply and an outer ply of combustible paper, a ply of combustible corrugated paper disposed between and bonded at the crests of its corrugations xedly to the inner and outer plies to provide a relatively rigid peripheral wall, end walls closing the ends of the container, solid fuel in said container, said plies forming a plurality of isolated cavities disposed between the inner and outer plies and separated from each other by the corrugations of the corrugated ply, a chemical igniting agent in solid form and normally inactive in at least some of said cavities and capable of being readily ignited by the flame produced by burning of the paper contiguous to the agent and capable when ignited of producing a temperature higher than that which is produced by the burning paper, whereby it is rendered operative by burning at least one of the plies with a flame to expose the interior of the cavities and by igniting the agent by the burning ply, thereby igniting the fuel in the container by the agent,

2. The structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein a name-coloring agent is disposed in other of said cavities.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Blechman Mar. 27, 1934 French Jan. 9, 1883 Ketcham Apr. 14, 1931 Horne Aug. 13, 1935 Workman et a1.v Julyk29, 1941 v Boggs et al Mar. 4, 1947 Bennett Feb. 14, 1950 Hutter Dec. 12, 1950 Egeberg et al Mar. 25, 1952 Fischer May 3, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Apr. 23, 1930 

1. A FUEL AND IGNITING CONTAINER COMBINATION INDLUDING, A CONTAINER HAVING A UNITARY PERIPHERAL WALL INCLUDING AT LEAST AN INNER PLY AND OUTER PLY OF COMBUSTIBLE PAPER, A PLY OF COMBUSTIBLE CORRUGATED PAPER DISPOSED BETWEEN AND BONDED AT THE CRESTS OF ITS CORRUGATIONS FIXEDLY TO THE INNER AND OUTER PLIES TO PROVIDE A RELATIVEY RIGID PERIPHERAL WALL, END WALLS CLOSING THE ENDS OF THE CONTAINER, SOLID FUEL IN SAID CONTAINER, SAID PLIES FORMING A PLURALITY OF ISOLATED CAVITIES DISPOSED BETWEEN THE INNER AND OUTER PLIES AND SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER BY THE CORRUGATIONS OF THE CORRUGATED PLY, A CHEMICAL IGNITING AGENT IN SOLID FORM AND NORMALLY INACTIVE IN AT LEAST SOME OF SAID CAVITIES AND CAPABLE OF BEING READILY IGNITED BY THE FLAME PRODUCED BY BURNING OF THE PAPER CONTIGUOUS TO THE AGENT AND CAPABLE WHEN IGNITED OF PRODUCING A TEMPERATURE HIGHER THAN THAT WHICH IS PRODUCED BY THE BURNING PAPER, WHEREBY IT IS RENDERED OPERATIVE BY BURNING AT LEAST ONE OF THE PLIES WITH A FLAME TO EXPOSE THE INTERIOR OF THE CAVITIES AND BY IGNITING THE AGENT BY THE BURNING PLY, THEREBY IGNITING THE FUEL IN THE CONTAINER BY THE AGENT.
 2. THE STRUCTURE IN ACCORDANCE WITH CLAIM 1 WHEREIN A FLAME-COLORING AGENT IS DISPOSED IN OTHER OF SAID CAVITIES. 